Beverages have been dispensed for many years in disposable cups, and typically each disposable cup is provided with a disposable lid. Very often, after the beverage has been obtained from the vendor or dispenser, and has been covered with the lid, it is carried by the consumer to another place where the beverage will be consumed. At that time, the consumer may choose to remove and dispose of the lid, or retain it for future replacement over the cup, or a portion of the lid may be folded back from the rim of the cup to provide an opening through which the beverage may be consumed. Other lids are provided, particularly of the dome lid variety which are used to cover hot beverages such as coffee or cappuccino, and which extend above the rim of the cup. Often, those dome lids have a drink-through opening which is punched into a planar portion of the cup lid above the plane of the rim of the cup. Consequently, the drink-through opening is permanently open.
In many circumstances, such as in sports stadia and the like, where there are likely to be crowds in the area where beverages are being dispensed, and where very often a consumer will obtain more than one beverage at a time for himself and/or his companions, and where there is risk of spillage of the beverage should the cup lid be removed from the cup, it is desirable for there to be a drink-through opening in the cup lid which can be resealed at times when the beverage is not being consumed. This has several advantages, including reducing the risk of spillage as a consequence of being jostled or the like, and in the case where the beverage is a hot beverage, cooling of the beverage is retarded if the cup lid has been resealed.
Indeed, it is particularly for the reason that there is a risk of spillage of a hot beverage through the drink-through opening that the present invention seeks to provide a cup lid having a drink-through opening that can be selectively sealed and resealed at will. This feature is particularly advantageous in the many instances where cups of a hot beverage are dispensed through a sales or delivery window to a waiting driver in a vehicle who is making his/her purchase at a so-called drive-through window. There may be a significant difference in elevation between the service window and that of the vehicle, or there may be inclement or windy weather, or other reasons including inattention, carelessness, or accident, where hot beverage might spill over the hands of either the service person or the customer through an unsealed drink-through opening in a cup lid covering the beverage.
For that purpose, the present invention provides a cup lid which can be unsealed so as to provide free access to the drink-through opening, but which can be resealed so as to provide a liquid seal to preclude spillage, as well as to retard cooling of the beverage in the event that it is a hot beverage.
The prior art which is known to the Applicant herein, which has to do with cup lids having drink-through openings and sealing or cover arrangements therefore, but which is not believed otherwise to be relevant to the present invention, is as follows, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,052; U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,490; U.S. Design Pat. No. D478006; U.S. Design Pat. No. D480968; Published United States Patent Application 2002/0170912; Published United States Patent Application 2003/0024929 (and its Continuation 2003/0197012 and its Division 2004/0035868); Published United States Patent Application 2003/0024930; Published United States Patent Application 2003/0089713; Published United States Patent Application 2003/0089714; Published United States Patent Application 2006/0027588, Published United States Patent Application 2004/0094549, and Published United States Patent Application 2006/0096983.